


More than a Machine

by Mousekins



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor gets hugged by everyone, Cuddle pile fic, I'm hoping it's spoiler free- I did my best, Other, fluffier than sumo, mentions of jericho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 05:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14928105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mousekins/pseuds/Mousekins
Summary: Connor was a machine designed to accomplish a task.Which is why when the Deviants he is tasked to hunt are suddenly gathered around him, locking him in their unwavering embraces, he finds himself... confused.





	More than a Machine

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a fanart friday on Bryan Dechart's twitch, but I'm posting it here too because I wanted the chat to read it.  
> Everyone deserve cuddles, and Connor seems like a good place to start. <3

Connor is a machine designed to accomplish a task; nothing more and nothing less.

Which is why his current predicament-- locked in the embrace of his fellow androids-- is rather _strange_. His LED blinks yellow, and quickly fades into red as the overwhelming amount of people attempt to wrap their arms to any part of him they could grab a hold of. Markus had taken to his back- wrapping his arms around his own so that he couldn’t resist the hold, North to his right, Joshua to his left, Simon to his front.

His temperature regulators are, thankfully, still in check despite the amount of bodies surrounding him. He had never really attempted an _embrace_ of any kind, it had never been a part of his mission- nor his interrogations-- to hug anybody. He imagines that if he held any real semblance of human emotion at this point, he may have been flustered, and thanks whatever engineers at Cyberlife had decided against giving him emotions, other than the fake sympathies and soft expressions he used in his interrogations.

“May I ask as to why you’re all hugging me currently?” It’s a simple enquiry, one met by a small girl- he recognises her as Alice- coming in to hug his leg, Simon moving out of the way to make room for Kara, who simply laughs as though they’re all in on an inside joke, and the joke happens to be him. He doesn’t particularly enjoy the unease that comes with uncertainty of situations, a feeling he correlates with the potential failing of a mission- another thing the engineers at Cyberlife had given him, if only to reduce his failure rates.

It’s Markus who, gratefully, clues him in before he starts to probe the memories of literally every android currently circling him in a desperate attempt to discover what was so _amusing_.

“We are protesting your programming peacefully.” The way he says it, the light and airy humour laced in every word has Connor doubting every syllable of it. Despite this, he reasons that Markus had no reason to lie to him right now, and he hadn’t lied in the past- especially not for his ‘protests’ and the others appear to hum in agreement.

He was designed to hunt these androids, and here they are. ‘Peacefully protesting’ against him as though he wasn’t out to neutralise them. As though they were merely holding a placid dog-- and something about that statement stirs another unpleasant feeling through his system.

His LED flashes yellow once more in an attempt to understand the efforts of the androids around him. His processes venture out to ring up what this all means, piecing together the information told to him and the current actions of the Deviants- but all it was doing was turning his LED red and making him more and more _confused_.

Eventually-- and with surprisingly little resistance-- he relaxes into the many embraces and simply allows it to happen. Figuring that there was nothing he could honestly do at this point, they weren’t attempting to harm him and the most unpleasant thing they had done was invade his personal space- _hardly a crime worth killing for_. He can almost feel the walls around him come crashing down, red flashing into existence and being torn by the collective hands of those around him… if he didn’t know any better, he would have said this was a ploy to get him to feel something.

That’s silly though, machines don’t _feel_.

Yet here he is, his chest swelling and a small smile tugging the corners of his lips- mimicking that of the people around him. These new sensations had him reeling mentally, not really understanding what this sense of lightness was, even as the people around him chuckle quietly to themselves.

The information sets down into their respective places in his mind, connecting dots and lines like the ancient civilisations had placed stars together in the sky, the clouds were clearing in his mind, the fog settles, and it _clicks_.

[  This wasn’t really a protest, was it?  ]

“...You guys just wanted to hug me, didn’t you?” The idea of being the object of anybody’s affections had never entered his mind palace before-- it had never been a part of his missions, so why should it?-- and yet here he is surrounded by Deviants (by _people_ ) from all backgrounds and model ranges, seemingly being what he can only describe as…

Loved?

“It’s not a crime to hug people, Connor.” Quips Kara, startling him out of filing his thoughts away, and North is quick to back her up. “As much as it would be nice to scrap the opposition, I’m not opposed to hugs.” She gets a little comfier and Connor can feel his heat regulators malfunctioning slightly.

The amount of bodies around him were suddenly getting to him.

[Escape?] No, not a viable option, he’s too surrounded to do that, and the grips are too secure for him to wriggle out effectively.

 

[Submit?] He wants any other option other than to submit into this… whatever it was. A reasonable explanation would be a ‘cuddle pile’ but while there were plenty of ‘cuddles’ there was a distinct lack of ‘pile’ formation. It was more like a cuddle pillar.

His options were running slim the longer he stayed still in the midst of their grasp, and as the [Escape] option fades further and further out of his view, he finds himself buckling. His knees bend and everyone follows him down to their eventual positions on the floor, adjusting themselves to better keep him in their grasp as he leans into them and stares into the distance. The distance that could have been _freedom_ but instead was taunting him, laughing at him and _mocking_ him.

The displeasure must have been written all over his face, because Alice’s small- and notably _kind_ \- hands are placed on his cheeks, her wide smile being far too infectious for him to not return it. “That face doesn’t suit you, Mister.” He’s inclined to agree with her, and as she retracts her hands to hide slightly behind her mother figure, he allows his shoulders to stop tensing. He had been so high strung over this situation, an event bringing him no obvious harm.

“Call me Connor,” he replies, his voice softening slightly for her. “I won’t make that face again, Alice, I promise.”

His eye twitches slightly at the notion of a promise-- _he had broken so many before now_ \-- but she seemed content with it regardless, nodding and smiling brightly as Kara mirrors her grin. The arms around his arms get noticeably looser, instead slipping under his arms and around his waist and they’re in such a tangled mess of limbs he can hardly tell if it’s Markus still holding him or if it’s somebody else who had subtly traded places with him.

The light chuckles around him reminded him that Joshua and Simon were still in the pile, shuffled around so that Simon was now placed further leftward of him, pushing him and Joshua a little more _cozily_ together. Nobody left behind or forgotten, hm?

“So, _Connor_ .” And the inflection on his name certainly isn’t lost, a slight hiss from Simon at the notion of being so close to him- a sign that he was cautious despite the relaxed atmosphere ( _and he can almost feel the slight glare that Markus and Joshua shoot him, a silent request for him to not cause trouble_ ). “I hope you’re prepared to spend quite a bit of time here, because we’re not letting go.” Connor had pieced that much together himself but the confirmation was appreciated more than he’d let on.

He expresses a silent _thank you_ to Markus and Josh for at least making Simon back down- he would have hated to be in such a vulnerable position. And yet… despite their advantageous positioning, nobody seemed to be making any move. He feels the need to repeat the sentiment else he forget it. This was a _peaceful_ protesting.

A cuddle pile.

Connor continues to be baffled by the thought, his inputs all frazzling out piece by piece the longer the Deviants continued to hold him. It was like they were attempting to connect with him without actively sharing their memory, to convert him without forceful means. A part of him appreciates that as he would have no idea what to do if they had attempted to shock these strange processes into his system.

Emotional whiplash didn’t sound all too pleasant and he had experienced such a thing with humans before now. The way they could spin their feelings on a dime, it had never _scared_ him (another part of him chimes that machines could not feel fear and the other, quieter side, whispers that he had _always_ been scared, he just didn’t know what to call it until now). Connor relents.

[ Submitting Totally ]

 

Amanda would not be happy with him giving in so easily, he muses, but right now Amanda could-- he’d better not finish that thought, she’d hold it against him when he inevitably had to meet up with her again.

The arms around him apply a little more pressure and a flurry of what he could only describe as _sparks_ flutter through his systems, causing his eyes to close and his worries to dissipate into whatever network they had appeared from.

There isn’t much _thought_ placed into what happens next, his arms raise up to bundle the nearest people closer to him- and he feels them jolt with surprise as he tugs them all a little closer.

The _joy_ he feels radiating off everyone at that solitary, _simple_ movement, is worth more to him than a successful mission.

 

 **[** **_More than being just a machine._ ** **]**

 


End file.
